Chapter 707
Thud! Thud! Thud!
With each strike of his fingertips against empty air, the weapons of the Dark Soul Unit members shattered, and limbs went flying.
Thump.
After barely ten seconds, the surroundings were littered with trembling Dark Soul Unit members collapsing as they gushed thick, crimson blood.
—Such destructive power...!
The Dark Soul Unit members' eyes widened in shock.
What Bu Eun-seol had unleashed was fundamentally different from Bukgung Ryeong's Inner Energy Bullet Art.
These were bullets of pure air, forged entirely from internal power.
Unlike Bukgung Ryeong's technique, which cleanly severed the life force of its targets, this was more akin to the concussive blast of tens of thousands of pounds of gunpowder detonating—an overwhelming pressure erupting in all directions.
Crunch.
As a result, the bodies of the Dark Soul Unit members crumbled apart like brittle cookies, utterly powerless against the force.
The shockwaves generated by Bu Eun-seol's terrifying internal power were the most destructive martial technique the Dark Soul Unit members had ever witnessed in their entire lives.
"Huff... Huff..."
But Bu Eun-seol's expenditure of internal power was no trivial matter either.
The reason the Bullet King, Bukgung Ryeong, was so formidable was that he had refined his Inner Energy Bullet Art to the Extreme Realm.
He could endlessly circulate his internal power while utilizing the subtleties of the "bullet" principle.
Bu Eun-seol, however, had literally poured out his internal power like ammunition.
No matter how vast his reserves, exhaustion was inevitable.
Thud.
Finally, as the last of the Dark Soul Unit members fell dead, a silence as thick as death itself settled over the area.
By any measure, it had been a brutal massacre.
But since they had been struck by a martial technique that was impossible to block or evade, there was no room for resentment or lingering grudges.
"Impressive."
From the front, the Dark Soul Unit Leader, Hui Mu-ssang, stepped forward.
"But you've yet to reach the same realm as the Bullet King."
He mistakenly assumed that Bu Eun-seol had fallen into the Collapse State because he hadn't properly mastered the Inner Energy Bullet Art.
"An Inner Energy Bullet Art that can't circulate power is nothing more than a dance with death."
Half of what he said was true.
Having repeatedly mimicked the Inner Energy Bullet Art with his monstrous internal power, Bu Eun-seol's reserves had indeed plummeted to rock bottom.
Hui Mu-ssang possessed a unique extrasensory perception that allowed him to gauge an opponent's internal power levels, so he immediately detected Bu Eun-seol's depleted state.
Step. Step.
As Hui Mu-ssang advanced, a faint rustling sound followed from behind him.
Dozens of martial artists clad in wind-breaking robes descended, encircling Bu Eun-seol as if sealing off any escape.
"The main unit is divided into three divisions."
Hui Mu-ssang sneered as he observed Bu Eun-seol's labored breathing.
"What you've faced so far was merely our First Division."
"..."
"For someone so young to have cultivated such martial prowess is remarkable."
A brilliant gleam erupted from the sword in Hui Mu-ssang's grip.
"But now, it's time for you to die."
Bu Eun-seol began a desperate flight for survival.
He had attempted to face the Dark Soul Unit Leader and his subordinates with the Inner Energy Bullet Art, but the expenditure of internal power had been extreme.
To make matters worse, the Second Division of the Dark Soul Unit employed a unique technique that disrupted an opponent's internal power flow.
It seemed to be a martial art derived from the Imperial Court Martial Arts.
By the time the Third Division appeared, Bu Eun-seol had sustained severe internal and external injuries, forcing him to retreat.
Fortunately, the Jianchang Branch was nearby. If he could break through this encirclement... he might still shake them off.
Whoosh!
Bu Eun-seol swiftly deployed his movement technique.
The persona of Seon-u Jin still had a somewhat lacking foundation when it came to confronting formidable enemies.
Especially since he had recklessly mimicked the Inner Energy Bullet Art in rapid succession, leading to an unnecessary and extreme drain on his internal power.
Now, he was left with no choice but to endure the relentless pursuit of the Dark Soul Unit.
His only option was to reach the Martial Alliance's branch as quickly as possible and lose his pursuers.
"Huff... Huff..."
Finally, drenched in blood, Bu Eun-seol collapsed before the great gate of the branch.
Thud.
The moment he fell, the martial artists inside the branch rushed out in a flurry.
"Quickly, to the Hall of Rejuvenation!"
Seon-u Jin was a prominent figure within the Martial Alliance.
In fact, as the chief of the Secret Intelligence Bureau, he held the authority to mobilize the forces of the branches scattered throughout the Central Plains.
Portrait sketches of his face and identifying features had been distributed to every branch, allowing the Jianchang Branch members to recognize him instantly.
Without delay, they carried him to the Hall of Rejuvenation.
"The Pavilion Lord of the Eastern Grove is in the area—fetch him at once!"
At the branch leader's shout, the martial artists nodded urgently and dashed outside.
Sagong Won, the Pavilion Lord of the Martial Alliance's Eastern Grove Pavilion.
Originally from the medical profession, he was not only a master of medical arts but also deeply knowledgeable about medicinal herbs.
Whenever he wasn't handling alliance affairs, he wandered famous mountains in search of rare herbs.
By sheer coincidence, he had visited the Jianchang Branch to gather herbs.
In other words, there was no one more suited to treat Bu Eun-seol's critical injuries.
"His condition is dire."
Guided inside the Hall of Rejuvenation by the martial artists, Pavilion Lord Sagong Won checked Bu Eun-seol's pulse and his expression darkened.
"His vital energy is depleted, plunging him into the Collapse State. I must infuse him with internal power—all of you, stand guard outside."
At his command, the Jianchang Branch martial artists hastily nodded and exited the hall.
Once silence enveloped the room, Sagong Won smiled faintly, his gaze icy as he looked down at Bu Eun-seol.
"Remarkable. To endure such injuries without succumbing to death..."
He muttered under his breath, staring at the unconscious man.
"I heard you were being chased by the Dark Soul Unit after sustaining injuries... So I waited here. The escape routes of the Martial Alliance dogs are all too predictable."
Pavilion Lord Sagong Won of the Eastern Grove.
He was a spy secretly planted by the Demon Hall.
Upon hearing that Seon-u Jin had fled the Dark Soul Unit's pursuit, he had anticipated his arrival at the Jianchang Branch and waited in ambush.
A high-ranking Martial Alliance officer, gravely wounded—this was the perfect opportunity.
"The only safe house he could trust was the nearby Martial Alliance branch."
"To dare lay hands on the Supreme Cult Commander's secret organization..."
The Eastern Grove Pavilion Master extended a finger toward Bu Eun-seol's neck—
precisely where a Death Point lay, where even the slightest pressure could sever one's breath.
"You should never have entertained the thought of surviving this."
The moment he pressed the Death Point—
Flick!
Bu Eun-seol, who had been unconscious, opened his eyes.
In that instant, Sagong Won felt as though his heart might leap from his mouth.
"What the—?!"
Unfazed by his shock, Bu Eun-seol rose languidly, as if waking from a deep slumber.
"Quite swift. I was worried you might be late."
As he muttered this even letting out a yawn, Sagong Won's eyes bulged.
"Are you a jiangshi?!"
He had clearly confirmed it—Bu Eun-seol had been struck by the Dark Soul Unit's attack, his Internal Power drained to the dregs, his wounds fatal.
How could he stand up unscathed?
Bu Eun-seol smirked at him.
"The Martial Emperor's Hidden Treasury contains many of the Righteous Faction's Secret Arts."
Then, as if indulging his curiosity, he spoke calmly.
"For instance, mastering the Star River Qi allows one to fully restore their Internal Power—so long as their dantian remains intact."
"Star River Qi..."
Finally grasping the situation, Sagong Won bit his lip.
"Don't tell me... you already knew this old man would be waiting for you here."
"Of course not."
Bu Eun-seol's lips curled.
"But if it were the Demon Hall... I figured they'd have planted at least a few spies in advance—ones who could drive a blade into any Martial Alliance figure they wished dead."
"..."
"This was simply a good opportunity to weed out those spies who might come for me."
When struck by the Dark Soul Unit's ambush,
Bu Eun-seol had realized two brilliant stratagems.
The first was this—
Thinning out the Martial Alliance spies sent to kill him.
Seon-u Jin was now a key figure in the Martial Alliance, and by annihilating the Blood Enemy, he had provoked Yeop Hyo-cheon—the Demon Hall's second-in-command.
Naturally, the Demon Hall would sooner or later—
Use their embedded spies to eliminate him. That much was obvious.
"Lies."
Sagong Won's eyes flashed as if realizing something.
"Even if you mastered Star River Qi, restoring completely depleted Internal Power in an instant requires a cultivation level of four hundred years!"
He glared coldly at Bu Eun-seol.
"You are not Seon-u Jin."
Bu Eun-seol said nothing, merely maintaining his faint smile.
In truth, his Internal Energy had long surpassed five hundred years, having grasped the mysteries of The Dao Rises and Falls and Endless Circulation.
It would take not dozens, but hundreds of Inner Energy Bullet Arts to even begin exhausting his reserves.
"Who the hell are you?"
Sagong Won could sense it—
That "Seon-u Jin" was nothing more than a disguised identity.
No matter how rare a prodigy, no matter how exceptional one's intellect—
No one could thoroughly dissect the systems of the Demon Hall and the Martial Alliance, predicting the very moment spies would be mobilized.
Only someone who had weathered countless storms, surviving in a world of schemes and conspiracies, rising to the pinnacle of some sect or organization—
Could lay such a trap, ensnaring him so perfectly.
"No need to know. Just understand this—"
Bu Eun-seol's voice was decisive.
"From now on, I'll be purging every spy rooted in this alliance."
Sagong Won's expression tensed.
It was obvious—Bu Eun-seol intended to torture him for information on the remaining spies.
'With his skills, he won't even allow me to commit suicide.'
The interrogation methods of martial artists surpassed imagination.
Martial artists tempered their bodies and Spirit and Mind daily, their endurance far exceeding ordinary limits.
Thus, their torture techniques had evolved to match.
"I—I don't know the identities of the other spies!"
"I know."
Bu Eun-seol replied flatly.
"If spies knew each other's identities, catching one would uproot them all. The higher-ups would never allow that."
"You're well-informed. Then what do you plan to do?"
"I'll wait for you to kill yourself."
"How peculiar. Others would torture me for information, no matter what."
Click.
At that moment, a crisp sound echoed as white foam bubbled from Sagong Won's mouth.
He had bitten down on a false tooth laced with poison, ending his own life.
"Thank you. For granting me this mercy."
"No need. I never needed the Demon Hall's spy network to begin with."
Sagong Won's pupils dimmed in realization.
Only in death did he understand what Bu Eun-seol truly sought.
"You... you intend to bring down both the Martial Alliance and the Demon Hall."
Crash!
With those final words, Sagong Won collapsed, toppling a table.
Hiss—
Simultaneously, white smoke began rising from his corpse.
The poison he had bitten into was none other than the most vicious Extreme Poison in the martial world—Bone-Melting Powder.
Clatter!
Hearing the commotion, the guards stationed outside rushed in.
"What in the—?!"
Their eyes widened as they surveyed the scene.
Bu Eun-seol, who had been on death's door, sat perfectly composed—while before him lay a pool of thick, congealed blood.
"The Eastern Grove Pavilion Master was a spy for the Demon Hall."
Bu Eun-seol addressed them impassively.
"Notify the alliance at once. Tell them he was a spy and investigate every associate he had."
As he rose steadily, the Branch Leader among the guards cautiously asked,
"Your injuries... are you truly alright?"
"Of course."
"Already?"
The branch leader's mouth fell open.
He had started as an assassination squad member and endured all manner of hardships before rising to his current position as branch leader.
Because of this, his martial arts had also reached a level where he could be considered an expert in his own right, and his medical skills were no less impressive than those of wandering physicians.
When they had first arrived at the Jianchang Branch,
Bu Eun-seol's condition had been dire—his internal power completely drained, leaving only two or three years' worth of internal energy remaining.
And yet, he had already begun recovering his internal power?
'Just how deep is his internal power?'
The time it takes to recover fully depleted internal power is proportional to one's level of internal energy.
For example, someone who has reached a hundred years' worth of internal energy would take a full day to recover their drained power.
But someone with three hundred years' worth would only need two hours.
And yet, Bu Eun-seol had fully restored his power in less than a quarter of an hour?
'His internal power was completely gone—as if it had vanished entirely.'
Did that mean his internal power exceeded four or five hundred years?
"Then... how should we report the situation?"
"Report it exactly as you witnessed it. I will return to the Martial Alliance and personally clarify the details."
At Bu Eun-seol's words, the branch leader stood frozen for a moment before bowing his head.
"Understood."
When he lifted his head again, Bu Eun-seol was already gone.
'This can't be a dream, can it?'
Blinking rapidly, the branch leader pinched his own cheek several times.
He had heard that the Martial Alliance had appointed a young grandmaster—one who had ascended to the Seat of the Four Gods and Seven Kings—as the chief of the Secret Intelligence Bureau.
He had assumed this was just some lucky upstart who had connections...
But now he realized—this was a Great Grandmaster of the World, someone with the power to overturn the entire martial world.
—The Dark Soul Unit, one of the Demon Hall's Special-Class Elite Units, ambushed Commander Seon-u.
—In the process, the spy planted by the Demon Hall, the Eastern Grove Pavilion's leader, was exposed and executed by the Secret Intelligence Bureau's chief.
Shocking rumors spread throughout the martial world.
The fact that the Demon Hall had planted a spy within the Martial Alliance was not, in itself, particularly remarkable.
The Demon Hall and the Martial Alliance—these two factions represented the martial world's Orthodox and Unorthodox Paths.
Naturally, it was an entirely common practice for both sides to infiltrate each other with spies to secretly monitor their movements.
But the fact that the Demon Hall had attempted to assassinate Seon-u Jin, the newly appointed chief of the Secret Intelligence Bureau—a rising star among the younger generation of grandmasters—
And that the assassin was none other than the Eastern Grove Pavilion's leader, a high-ranking figure within the Martial Alliance—
That was undeniably shocking.
—He was not our spy.
The Demon Hall denied it outright.
And of course, they would.
When sending a spy into enemy territory,
All possible evidence of their true identity was meticulously erased before deployment.
Moreover, since the Eastern Grove Pavilion's leader had committed suicide using Bone-Melting Powder, no proof of his espionage remained.
Even if his ghost were to appear and confess, the Demon Hall would never admit it.
—What vile, treacherous bastards!
The Martial Alliance made no effort to hide their displeasure over this incident.
To think they had dared to attack a high-ranking official—one personally trusted by the Alliance Leader and appointed to the crucial position of Secret Intelligence Bureau Chief—
Not only with a Special-Class Elite Unit, but also by using a spy to assassinate him?
From the Martial Alliance's perspective, this was absolutely unforgivable.
—Until the Demon Hall issues a formal apology, all Demon Hall branches and Demonic Path factions will face difficulties.
In protest, the Martial Alliance began exerting subtle pressure on demonic sects within their sphere of influence.
—Who are they to talk?
Not to be outdone, the Demon Hall retaliated in kind, tightening their grip on the Righteous Faction.
With tensions escalating, the martial world had become a sheet of thin ice.
The Martial Alliance and the Demon Hall—the two great coalitions that divided the world between the Orthodox and Unorthodox Paths—
Had long maintained a fragile peace, neither side daring to cross the other.
But because of this incident,
That precarious balance had shattered, and an invisible struggle for dominance had begun.
As the standoff intensified, minor skirmishes erupted between lower-ranking factions.
Eventually, both sides ordered their branch members to arm themselves and protect affiliated sects within their territories.
At this point, though open war had yet to break out,
The tension had reached a hair-trigger state—one spark away from explosion.
Shaanxi, the Hall of the Wandering Souls—Grand Conference Chamber
Present were the pillars of the Wandering Souls Society—Dae Gu-hwi and Bing Han-pung—alongside Do Cheon-rin, Dam Yu-yeon, and Yu Hwa-ryeong.
However, Noe Bi-hon, as the sect leader of the Thunder Spirit Gate, did not reside permanently with the society, instead frequently traveling to command the Swift Thunder Corps.
And at the center of the conference room sat a masked figure—
Bu Eun-seol.
Since his identity was publicly unaffiliated with the Wandering Souls Society,
He remained veiled even in the presence of his closest allies.
"As you planned, Lord, not just Shaanxi but the entire martial world has become a sheet of thin ice," Dam Yu-yeon calmly began.
"Demon Hall and Martial Alliance branches everywhere are locked in a standoff. If someone were to incite chaos now, full-scale war would erupt immediately."
She spoke with confidence.
"At this rate, provoking a direct clash between the Demon Hall and the Martial Alliance would not be impossible."
The ground shift he had postponed during the Dark Soul Unit's ambush—
That plan had always been to pit the Demon Hall and the Martial Alliance against each other.
The two great coalitions that divided the martial world—
If they collided, the resulting chaos would be unstoppable.
"We cannot afford to miss this opportunity," Bing Han-pung said with a faint smile.
"Then it's time for our main force to step forward."
At Bing Han-pung's assured tone, Dae Gu-hwi's expression darkened.
"Lord Bing. If the Demon Hall and the Martial Alliance clash, it won't just be martial artists who suffer—innocent civilians will also be caught in the crossfire."
A Great Orthodox-Unorthodox War was not merely a conflict between the two factions.
Every sect in the martial world would be forced to take sides, fighting with their full strength.
Countless civilians would inevitably be caught in the devastation.
Dae Gu-hwi turned his gaze toward Bu Eun-seol, who remained silent.
"Are you truly intending to make the Demon Hall and the Martial Alliance clash?"
Dae Gu-hwi's large, doe-like eyes trembled.
If Bu Eun-seol were to nod his head right now... every last shelter of the common people would turn into seas of fire.
Before the Imperial Army could even intervene, the two great factions of Murim would collide with their full combat power unleashed.
The Righteous-Demonic War would erupt in earnest.